A modern concept of direction held by the Chamula indians of Chiapas. empahsizes two important points.One, the mesoamerican culture was centered around daytime events and directions were expressed in terms of the individual and his relationship with the sun and its movement rather than the north star and the night sky. This does not mean that they were unaware of the stars nor that they did not use them as a point of reference to guide them at night. It simply means that it was not a part of their principal directional reference system.Two, Their cardinal directions were not expressed as points but rather as general expressions relative to the sun and themselves eg. north is expressed as the side of heaven on the right hand.

For further discussion see:Viva Zapato! Hurray for the Shoe!Review of Does the Shoe Fit? A Critique of the Limited Tehuantepec Geography by Deanne G. MathenyReviewed By: John L. SorensonProvo, Utah: FARMS, 1994. Pp. 297—361

As far back as the Olmec (figure 1)and the Aztecs (figure 2) we find that the Pre-Columbians thought of their land as a rectangle bounded by four corners which were determined by drawing lines from the center to the corners which were in line with the position of the rising and setting sun at the summer and winter solstices. This practice continues even today see Jerry L. Ainsworth's "The Lives and Travels of Mormon & Moroni". see Figure 3.The big question is "Is there any evidence in the Book of Mormon that would support the conclusion that this concept was part of the Book of Mormon culture?For some time, myself and others have been puzzled by the unbalanced distribution of directional references in the Book of Mormon, There being a greater excess of references to north, northward, south and southward than there are references to east, eastward and west with no references to westward. See table 1.

There are 378 total directional references in the Book of Mormon including northward, southward, eastward and westward. There are 243 references excluding the 'ward directions. When the number of references for each cardinal direction with and without the 'ward directions are summed and then expressed as a percentage of each total, the data shown in Table 2 are obtained. When all directions are included a rectangular pattern is seen suggesting the possibility that the book of Mormon culture used a coordinate system based on a rectangle in a manner similar to other precolumbian cultures. When only north, south, east and west are included, as expected, a square pattern is found. The lack of references to eastward and westward is consistent with the rectangular pattern since they always considered east to be where the sun rises and west to be where the sun sets. Even though they varied 50 degrees over the course of the year. Joseph Smith was well aware of the use of northward, westward, southward and eastward to refer to directional quarters as indicated by the 1828 edition of Webster's Dictionary definition of occidental.

OCCIDENT'AL, a. [L. occidentalis.] Western; opposed to oriental; pertaining to the western quarter of the hemisphere, or to some part of the earth westward of the speaker or spectator; as occidental climates; occidental pearl; occidental gold.

Combining this concept with the mesoamerican model gives the results shown in Figure 5. The quincunx is centered on the Grijalva river at the point where the City of Zarahemla has been proposed to be located. As shown, this places the Land of Desolation in the northern quarter, in other words, northward, as described in the Book of Mormon. Locations for a number of other Book of Mormon locations are also shown in Figure 4.

Figure 1.Olmec Celt from Linda Schele,s drawing on Famsi web site Showing the Quincunx or rectangular pattern of the land.

Figure 2.Four Quarters of Mexico CityThis map shows the rectangular distribution of the four quarters of Mexico City shortly after the Spanish conquest.

Figure 3.The quincunx divided into four quarters

Figure 5

Figure 6

North 37 Land North 4 Land on the North 0 In the North 4 In the land North 3 On the North 11 On the land North 0

South 36 Land South 4 Land on the South 1 In The South 3 In the land South 3 On the South 15 On the land South 0

East 47 Land East 0 Land on the East 0 In the East 4 In the land East 0 On the East 17 On the land East 0

West 41 Land West 0 Land on the West 0 In the west 2 In the land West 0 On the West 18 On the land west 0

Northward 45Land Northward 30Land on the Northward 1 In the Northward 0In the land Northward 7On the Northward 3On the land Northward 1

Southward 20Land Southward 14Land on the Southward 1In the Southward 0In the land Southward 4On the Southward 2On the Land Southward 1

Eastward 3Land Eastward 0Land on the Eastward 0In the Eastward 0In the land Eastward 0In the land Eastward 0On the eastward 0On the eastward 0On the land Eastward 0

Westward 0Land Westward 0Land on the Westward 0In the Westward 0In the land Westward 0On the Westward 0On the land Westward 0On the land Westward 0On the land Westward 0

Table 1. This is a listing of the different possible directional forms used in the Book of Mormon combined with the different directions used in the Book of Mormon. As can be seen some of the forms are used extensively while others are conspicuous by their absence. eg.all forms combined with westward and most of those combined with eastward.

Percent Distribution based on a QuincunzFigure 4

Percent distribution found including all references

Percent Distribution based on a SquareFigure 4

Percent distribution found including only north, south, east and west

Northern Quarter

38

39

25

24

Eastern Quarter

13

19

25

27

Western Quarter

13

16

25

25

Southern Quarter

37

27

25

24

Table 2. Distribution of Geographical directions in the Book of Mormon. The 378 references to directions found in the Book of Mormon text were combined into four groups, one for each quarter and converted to a percentage of the total. When these percentages are compared to the expected percentages for distribution to either a rectangle or a square, there is a clear relationship to the rectangle rather than the square, indicating that the Book of Mormon culture's concept of geographic directions was similar to that of other precolumbian cultures.

Directions in the Book of Mormon

Figure 4Directional quarters based on a square and on the Mesoamerican quincunz